head to head
vs
Rusted MossvsSonic Mania
Rusted Moss leans Execution (Pure Mechanics); Sonic Mania leans Execution (Practiced Mastery).
Rusted MossSonic Mania
Axis by axis
Execution8 vs 7
Rusted Moss leans harder on execution: Grappling-hook movement and bullet-dodging are the lead
Reads1 vs 1
Even - both lean on reads about the same.
Variance3 vs 2
Rusted Moss leans harder on variance: Bullet patterns are deterministic once learned
Optimization5 vs 5
Even - both lean on optimization about the same.
Two games can score the same on an axis and still test it in very different ways - read each rationale, not just the number.